COVID-19, like HIV, may never go away — WHO

It seems the attention and interest of the whole world today is focused on one issue — the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the coronavirus may never go away and the world will have to learn to live with it, like HIV — human immunodeficiency virus — which first came in the 1980s and remains with us to this day.

The world continues to pin its hopes on a coronavirus vaccine, with more than 100 being developed in laboratories in several countries around the world, but none of them is close to final testing and approval. France’s Sanofi said the United States was due to get the first shipment of its vaccine, drawing a rebuke from French President Emanuel Macron who said any COVID-19 vaccine must not subject to market forces.

In Asia, where the coronavirus first emerged in December, 2019, China and South Korea reported some new cases after they started lifting restrictions but immediately responded with new restrictions. Japan experienced new cases after lifting a state of emergency in March, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has now extended the state of emergency to May 31.

In Africa, Senegal reopened its mosques and churches despite a rise in cases. Algeria reported it had started producing rapid test kits with a detection time of 15 minutes.

In Europe, the death toll in the United Kingdom exceeded 40,000, the worst in Europe, raising questions about the leadership of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Germany reported a rise in new infections after earlier steps to ease its lockdown.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin said people in some sectors would return to work, but restrictions on public gatherings remain.

In the United States, two White House officials fell ill from COVID-19, and all those working in the West Wing were directed to start wearing face masks. But President Donald Trump himself continued to refuse to wear one. He also continued to insist on an early economic reopening of the US, including schools, even as his advisers urged caution.

President Trump appeared determined to restore the country to normalcy as early as possible, as he is facing reelection in November. Events, however, seem to be going against him as the US continues to register more virus infections and deaths. On a nationwide broadcast last Friday, US infections rose by over 200 – from 1,411,466 to 1,413,012 — and deaths rose by over 90, from 85,489 to 85,581 – all within a period of only 20 minutes.

These are only some of the countless developments in some of the countries around the world these last few days. And they are likely to continue in the coming weeks and months, maybe years.

The HIV which the WHO cited in its latest statement began in the 1980s and it continues to affect millions around the world today. At the end of 2018, a total of 74.9 million infections had been reported, with 32 million dead, while 24.5 million were getting therapy.

COVID-19 has now infected over 4.4 million and killed over 300,000 globally. That is still way off the HIV record. But then, according to WHO, COVID-19 is just beginning and may never go away.